L.A. schools paying $139M in abuse case

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Unified School District will pay more than $139 million to end litigation involving an elementary school teacher convicted of numerous lewd acts on his students, according to the settlement announced Friday.

The deal involving 81 students puts a legal end to the saga that began when Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt was arrested in 2012 and accused of sexual misdeeds against his students. The settlement is believed to be the largest ever for a school sex abuse case, according to victims’ lawyers, and increases the district’s price for the scandal to $170 million when combined with 65 cases settled earlier for $30 million.

Berndt was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading no contest to 23 counts of lewd conduct. He was able to avoid being fired after his arrest and retired from teaching with his pension.